[Rhodes22-list] Flooding Due To Dam Failure

[Lowe, Rob]

Roger,
Sorry to hear of your troubles but glad you, Deb, and Dynamic Equilibrium are fine.  Docks can be rebuilt.  I'm looking at the news videos and they are pretty dramatic.  Governor has declared a state of emergency and up to 11 feet of water is expected in one of the towns downstream.  One of the dams that failed had a deficient inspection and was supposed to be addressed next year sometime.  Guess it will be addressed a little sooner now.  Hang in there and be safe! - rob

________________________________
From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> on behalf of Stephen Staum <snstaum at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:38 AM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Flooding Due To Dam Failure

Roger,

Sorry to hear of your disaster.  I already feel guilty sailing solo or with
my wife only during our pandemic isolation.  Now I feel more guilty given
your situation.  I had a marina retrieve, store and launch my boat for the
1st time this year having always done this myself.  They even did the
bottom paint!  I have never been in the water before the 1st week in June
so this is a new experience for me.

I hope you get the lake cleaned up and are able to sail soon.

Stay Well,

*Stephen Staum*
*s/v Carol Lee 2*

*Needham, MA*


On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 5:34 AM ROGER PIHLAJA <Roger_Pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Well, the last 48 hours have been very costly.  My house is on Sanford
> Lake, the southern most of 4 artificial impoundments on the Tittabawassee
> River.  Sanford Lake is ~10 miles long and ~1300 acres in area.  I live on
> the west side of the lake ~7 miles north of the Sanford dam.  Going north
> from my house, Wixom Lake is about 3 miles away by water.  North of Wixom
> Lake, there is Smallwood Lake and then north of that, Secord Lake.  Of the
> 4 lakes, Wixom Lake is the biggest at ~2000 acres.
>
> We got ~7 inches of rain starting Sunday afternoon thru Tuesday morning.
> At ~14:00 on Tuesday, we got the alert that the Wixom dam had failed.  I
> was surprised at how slowly the water rose.  With a dam failure, you might
> expect a “wall of water” to come roaring thru.  But, it took several hours
> for the water level to rise.  My house sits on a bluff ~30 feet above the
> water and I had a beach and a 12 ft X 40 ft deck built over the water.
> Normally, S/V Dynamic Equilibrium would have been in it’s slip alongside my
> dock.  But, it was safely on its trailer in my driveway.  Anyway, our deck
> was submerged ~3 feet underwater for ~2 hours in swift current before it
> failed and was swept away.  Unfortunately, our floating swim platform was
> tied off to the deck and was swept away with it.  The rack for
> launching/retrieving/storing our RIB was tied off to a big tree, so it’s
> still with us.  Once the flood got going, my normally placid lake turned
> into a 200 yard wide, class 4 rapid in front of my house!  There were
> standing waves, and whirlpools.  Tons of debris, storage sheds, boats,
> docks, boat lifts, and uprooted trees went past my house.  The water level
> rose up to about waist deep on the 1st floor of the houses in the flood
> plain on the west side of the lake.  Deb & I watched an incredible disaster
> unfold in slow motion looking out our dining room window.
>
> Electricity, cable TV, internet, and landline telephone are all out.  We
> are running on our natural gas-fired whole house back-up generator.  I am
> using my i-phone as a mobile hot spot to get on the internet to write
> this.  We have a well and a septic field and lots of stored food.  Deb and
> I both have a bag packed and we have an escape route planned if that
> becomes necessary.  However, we believe we are better off sheltering in
> place vs. evacuating.  We can live here a long time W/O any assistance.  At
> our elevation, half of Midland county would have to be flooded before the
> water would even reach the lower level of my house.
>
> Unfortunately, our inflatable Walker Bay RIB, the Honda outboard, and the
> trailer were all in storage at Johnson Mini Storage, which is very close to
> the Wixom dam.  I can’t get over there to see; but, I expect the storage
> facility isn’t there any more!  The radio says the Sanford dam was
> breached; but, the lake level is still ~10 feet above normal summer pool.
> So, I presume the Sanford dam is still standing, at least for the moment.
> The radio also says Secord dam and Smallwood dam are in trouble.  But,
> although Sanford Lake level is still high, the current has slacked off a
> lot.  So, the upstream dams, except for Wixom dam must still be standing,
> again at least for the moment.
>
> As bad as we have it, the folks downstream of Sanford dam are in real
> trouble.  The radio reports record flooding in my hometown of Sanford and
> in Midland, where I used to work at Dow Chemical.  The Tittabawassee River
> literally runs right thru the Dow Chemical complex in Midland.  I hope they
> were able to get all the chemical plants shut down safely!
>
> So, although I could have done a few things better, we are both OK and
> safe.  Life here on Sanford Lake is not going to be “normal” for a long
> time.  Even if I replace my dock, I think there is going to be so much
> debris in the lake that sailing is going to be impossible.
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
>
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>